Is there a difference between buying a house and buying a home?
I’m feeling profound this morning. I may not come across sounding profound, but know that I am feeling deep. I like to read other blogs, and the Tacoma News Tribune’s real estate blogis one of my favorites. Devona Wells does a good job. She writes about things that people are interested in, and gets discussions flowing. That’s what I think a good blogger should do.
One of her more recent posts focuses on the timing of buying a home. She questions the NAR and Realtors seemingly constant push to buy now. There have been several replies, coming from two camps. Realtors reading the blog say of course now is the time to buy; prices are coming down, interest rates are low, why not buy? Consumers reading the blog say of course Realtors will say buy now. They’re self serving salesmen (one even calls us “stinky eggs”) who just want to make a buck. Why buy now when prices will go even lower? You can read the blog here, it’s a good one.
So my question is, “Is there a difference between buying a house and buying a home?” Not everybody views a house as a really expensive wooden box that should make you rich some day. Some people walk into a house and see their family having Christmas dinner there, they imagine having sleepovers and hosting graduation parties, they imagine having friends over for dinner or bringing home their first child. To some people, a house is really a home, not just an investment.
That’s who I think NAR is trying to target with their new “buy now” ad campaign. Our media tends to focus on the negative. Many buyers have been scared into believing that if they buy a home now, they’ll lose it in a year when the foreclosure monster comes and eats up every home in America.
My wife and I recently bought a home. We looked at the homes for sale in Gig Harbor, saw a home we liked in a nice neighborhood, and we thought it’d be the perfect place to bring our child home to and raise a family. It was a good deal, our mortgage is a good one with good rates, we’re really happy. Can I sell the house for as much today as I bought it for 4 months ago? According to the statistics, no. But why would I want to sell it now? We bought the home with the idea we’d be here for 7-10 years. I can’t see the future, but I’m pretty sure our home will be worth more in 7-10 years than it is now. We could have waited. We could have said prices are falling, let’s wait until the market hits bottom, then buy. But we don’t know when that will be. We would have missed out on this house and we would have had to bring our newborn child home to a house we didn’t like as much. We didn’t lose anything by buying when we did. Our home will still turn out to be a great investment when we do end up selling. For now, though, it is just our home. A place where we’re comfortable, where we are making memories with our first child, where we’re happy to be.
If a house is just an investment to you, and you want to try and time the market and buy at just the right time, good luck. If you are looking to buy a home in Gig Harbor and you are ready to start making a life for yourself here, call me, I think it’s a great time to buy.
December 9th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Yes there is a difference between buying a house and a home. My husband and I have owned the same home since 1989. We raised our children in it. There is a big advantage to owning a home for the long haul. Our house payments are less than rent for a one bedroom apartment. We never borrowed more money against it and did not buy it as a short term investment. It is worth about four times what we paid for it. During the first three years we owned it we saw no appreciation. But it is more than just the house. We know our neighbors and some are more like family.